Die Gute Fabrikās hugely enjoyable screenless indie game Johann Sebastian Joust is the latest victim of app-store cloning. An iOS game called Papa Quash released yesterday apes not only Joustās core mechanical idea, but shamelessly lifts its marketing, imagery, and overall vibe.
https://lastchance.cc/the-best-film-of-the-year-didnt-need-talking-do-video-5888725%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
It may sound like an idea thatās difficult to claim ownership of. But letās put questions of legality aside for the time being and just watch the two gamesā trailers:
Hereās the promotional video for Joust, which centers around demonstrating the rules while showing people playing in the street. Iāve seen many a Joust game in process, and their feel, look and pace feels distinctive and fresh. Itās like some sort of weird, slow-mo dance, and unlike any gameāvideo game or otherwiseāIāve ever seen.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfGth8mNjXg
Hereās the trailer for Papa Quash. Note how it lifts not just the rules of Joust but the entire vibeāexcept for the wub-wub music, if you just replaced the iPhones with Move controllers, this may as well be a trailer for Joust
Gamasutra spoke with a representative from Ustwo, the company who published Papa Quash. Ustwo director of marketing director Steve Bittan essentially redirected the blame for the clone on to its developer, Sam Pepper, claiming that āItās not a Ustwo app. Itās a Sam Pepper App,ā and saying that Pepper had emailed Die Gute Fabrik to tell them about Papa Quash and get them to OK it.
Die Gute Fabrik has not yet issued a statement, saying only that they would have an official response tonight, and saying on Twitter, āJust to be clear, we have never and would never approve, give permission, or encourage anyone to clone of any of our games.ā
Kotaku has reached out to both Die Gute Fabrik and Sam Pepper and will update this story if and when we hear back.
Update: The Appside is reporting that Ustwo has pulled Papa Quash from the App store.
